The National Education Association hosted a webinar On Wednesday, they encouraged teachers to oppose President-elect Donald Trump on immigration reform, saying their goal is to make students in the country illegally “feel less afraid.”
“Right now, there are laws that prohibit immigration agents from being on school grounds, and so several people in the Trump administration would like to roll that back,” said Jennifer Berkshire, author of The Education Wars.
Trump has said his focus would be on targeted deportations of violent criminals who entered the country illegally first arrest terrorists and cartels.
Rebecca S. Pringle, president of the National Education Association, speaks on Day 4 of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, August 22, 2024. (REUTERS/Mike Segar)
“There’s a real role for teachers, including aspiring teachers, in having conversations with these groups and figuring out… what can we do, within the school space, to try to make those kids feel less afraid,” Berkshire said. .
She also called out Ryan Walters, Oklahoma’s Superintendent of Public Instruction said in September that he wanted to place a Bible in every school in his state.
OKLAHOMA SUPERINTENDENT WITH CNN HOST ON BIBLES IN SCHOOLS: LIBERALS ‘DO NOT HAVE TO MAKE IT FUN’
“The reality is that, whether it’s book bans or extremist candidates for a school or a school board or someone like the Ryan Walters type who, you know, insists that teachers teach from the Bible or lose their degrees, uh, more and more, this really feels like a circus,” Berkshire said.
The National Education Association is an organization with more than 3 million members. Their president, Rebecca S. Pringle, has done just that called earlier the Trump administration ‘tyrannical, deceitful and corrupt’.
Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters in an interview with CNN host Pamela Brown discussing the use of the Bible in schools. (CNN screenshot)
Chelsie Acosta, chair of the NEA Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Committee and board director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said she is “concerned” about her community.
“When I started at the ACLU, it was like Trump came into the first term, so it’s a little bit bittersweet that… here we are at the second term,” Acosta said. “I didn’t think we’d be here, but here we are, and I think a lot of us are concerned about our own community and our students.”
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The webinar was opened by Caitlin Ehlers, member of the NEA’s Aspiring Educators Program and board director of the Student Washington Education Association, who provided a country acknowledgment.
“We begin by recognizing that we meet on the traditional lands of many Indigenous peoples, lands on which the participants in this call live and work. I speak to all of you from the traditional lands of the Duwamish people, governed by the Treaty of Wise Elliot,” Ehlers said.
“We honor the first people of this land and all their elders, past, present and emerging, and we are called to learn and share what we learn about the tribal history, culture and contributions that have been suppressed in the telling America’s story. .”
On January 20, 2025, Donald J. Trump will be sworn in as the 47th President of the United States. (Trump-Vance transition team)
